2010 Trips

I have been sending off the Offer Information today for our first major Industrial Archaeology Tour for this year to Upper Normandy, Valley of the Seine. This will be a coach trip from to London and will be based in Rouen. By 'our' I mean Heritage of Industry - www.heritage of industry.co.uk. It seems funny to be looking ahead to the Spring when we are still covered in snow in South East London.

Approaching soon, in March, is our first City Safari +, that is a City Safari with more than one centre. This time its the Black Country and we will be looking at industrial sites anywhere starting with a 'w' - that is Wolverhampton, Willenhall. Walsall and West Bromwich linked as usual by public transport. Check out details in due course at http://www.citysafaris.co.uk/.

City Safaris are walking tours round industrial cities to discover, using public transport, how a city works looking at stations, markets, local industries and housing,the hidden gems of industrial archaeology.

Happy New Year!

Its been a while since I posted anything, how come the blogs I read and follow always post regularly. Despite my New Year's Resolution to post more often, its already January 11th AND I found 2 unfinished posts from last Autumn.

Well its been snowing here! But rather than go outside, I have been continuing my family history reasearches, Genealogy is like an addiction that, at times, is very difficult, to shake off. I have been researching now for about 15 years and have nearly 15,000 names - some entered more in hope, as they could be related to my lines.

I have looked more closely at my husband's family as they have 'better' names to research but suddenly with more online facilities, I have been able to trace distant relatives with more common names in highly populated areas. In the old days, I used to pore over Census microfilms in the vain chance of finding a family member in an industrial town in Yorkshire.

What is even more interesting is looking at the jobs my ancestors did. While there is a fair share of 'ag labs' there are also Hand Loom Weavers, both in wool and cotton as well as Mill Engine Keeper in a Textile Mill. More esoteric is my great aunt's job as a lace curtain darner in Glasgow. Is this for old worn curtains or for 'seconds'? There is also a boot clicker in the later 19th century. For those not in the know, a clicker cut out the pieces of leather, which apparently made a clicking noise!

http://www.safarisue.tribalpages.com/

Well Dressing Weekend

(c) Roger Haworth

We went to Derbyshire for the annual Ashford in the Water Well Dressing. Ashford under the Water as it turned out. But before we got drenched there, we met friends at Bugsworth or Buxworth Canal Basin for a look round and a lovely pub lunch.

Buxworth Basin was developed at the end of the Peak Forest Canal which was developed at the end of the 19th century. Limestone was brought here via the Peak Forest Tramway for calcining in kilns by the canal bank. This once-thriving canal was left derelict for most of the 20th century but a devoted band of enthusiasts began the work of transforming the basin in 1968. It might have taken 30 years but after work to seal leaks in the walls and new over bridges constructed from stone saved from locally demolished buildings, the basin was finally re-opened in 2005 when 101 narrow boats arrived in the basin.

The works had been somewhat slowed by the building of a by-pass so close by that the noise of traffic can be clearly heard, despite the vegetation. However the various buildings demolished for the road plan provided the raw materials for the rebuilding.

IA in Films

Watching Channel 4 today reminded me that you can see IA in the strangest places. "Dunkirk", 1958, directed by Leslie Norman and starring a wealth of British actors, including John Mills, Bernard Lee and Richard Attenburgh, tells the human story of the British Army's escape from Dunkirk. Of IA note was the sight of the Boat Stores at Sheerness, looking a lot better than it does now.

The Boat Store was designed by Colonel G. T. Greene and built between 1858 and 1860 as a temporary store which could be dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere as needed. It was one of the very earliest cast iron and wrought iron framed, multi-storey buildings which was clad in early, lightweight corrugated iron. Today with the Dockyard in private hands the Store is endangered despite its Grade 1 listing. The ironwork was constructed by Henry Grissell of Regents Canal Ironworks.

I wish I had made a list of other IA sites I have seen in vintage films - but obviously the list starts here!

Sheffield

And so off at Half Term to Sheffield to check up on sites for March's City Safari - http://www.citysafaris.co.uk/. I haven't looked at the centre for some time and so was pleased to see how clean and tidy it looks despite the unusual lack of people around on a Saturday.

I was pleased to see the new (or nearly new) Millennium Galleries contained a cutlery exhibit with a collection bought from Bill Brown, whom I last met 30 years ago when discussing a cutlery mill in Catford.

I was pleased to see how many IA sites remain the the Don Valley in Attercliffe, despite large scale sweeping away of redundant sites. Attercliffe seems to be a neglected area, rather windswept, but with lots of potential. It was here that Benjamin Huntsman, 1704 - 1776, settled and developed his crucible steel which produced small quantities of steel for watchmaking. The Huntsman company, remaining in the family, stayed in the area until the beginning of the 20th century

Shops and Shopping

Having travelled about some parts of London I had not seen in a while, I realised how little I know about the shops and businesses in London. They are an important part of industrial archaeology in the city, but unrecognised architecturally and indeed from an IA viewpoint.

I was in Cardiff recently and apart from the Bay area there is little conventional IA, but it is certainly a shopping city with two department stores as well as fine examples of chain stores such as a Burtons with elephant head decoration.

A journey along London's Oxford Street on the top floor of a bus affords plenty of time to admire the 20th century splendours of Selfridges or Debenhams. There are also many anonymous art deco buildings which have always been retail outlets. Many fine stores are now in multiple occupancy which destroys the architectural integrity of the building.

The trend recently is for smaller units rather than the spledid large edifices which once typified our High Street. The familiar names such as Swan & Edgar or Dickins & Jones may have gone but their legacy lingers on.

September

Finally enough time to create another blog that no one will read!

September means back to school but next week off to Vienna for a City Safari weekend. Vienna is a fabulous city - fabulous architecture, fabulous food and lots of industrial history.